I am doing some minor updating in my house. Part of this is replacing the older ivory colored switches with new white ones. This has been very straightforward so far until I hit a switch with a pilot light. Instead of just two wires running into it there are 3 (there are 4 terminals but one is unused). Two of the used terminals have two wires connected to them (so five wires total are actually connected), there is another switch in the box branching off of it. the other switch is a single pole switch. I know one of the double wires terminals is running to the other switch in the box, don't know where the other goes. My guess is the doorbell transformer maybe (as the doorbell is above it). I know how to replace the other switch in the box (do pigtail instead of running two wires to a single terminal), but what do I do about the switch with pilot? Now I have a few questions...
1.) What kind of switch would I get to replace the switch/pilot? Do I need a three way switch? 2.) I assume the third termincal connector is for the pilot light, is that correct? If so, can I just leave the extra unused wire disconnected (using wire nut)?- posted
18 years ago